Spilling the Beans

Well anyone who knows us knows I've been talking about homeschooling for over a year now and I seriously wanted to do this. As much as I hate to say it, the timing to start right now has been about the worst it could possibly be. Putting it mildly, our family dynamic is drastically changed since Lei came home and I'm lucky to keep my sanity just taking care of the kids much less actually teaching them. Ok, cutting to the chase, Audrey and Lei attended their first day of Kindergarten today and appeared to really enjoy it. One huge blessing that we have is that our elementary school has an ESOL department with a woman who speaks fluent Mandarin. She tested Lei today and said he qualifies for ESOL classes (I was thinking duh ;lol) Ok, enough of my sarcasm, Lei and Audrey went to school all day today and when I picked them up they were both very excited and had lots to tell me. Lei started spouting out some english and was using some pronouns which he hasn't been doing. He kept pointing to me and referring to me as "you" which was I was loving. His most memorable sentence though was "Baby Jaguar is a cat" hehe. He also kept saying "animal" so I guess that was the word of the day ! When we came home, Lei got out his folder with his work and he was so proud and tried to explain everything to me, even what he had for a snack. His teacher really knows how to treat her students because from what he told me, it sounds like they had chocolate dipped strawberries ;-) Audrey on the other hand had goldfish, poor lass ! Audrey's reaction was exactly what I had anticipated since this child is a veteran of preschool and just a wee bit spoiled ;-) Audrey of course commented on the sufficiency of the playground equipment, the fact that she would prefer to eat in the cafeteria from now on (I sent her lunch), and that she enjoyed the tour of the school, the end. Audrey expressed to me that she enjoyed her first day of kindergarten but she was a little nervous. I of course told her that it was normal to feel a little nervous the first day of school.

Rachel and I had a mommy and me shopping extravaganza, ok, well not exactly since it was just Target and Wal-mart. We played the game "I'm an only child", and Rachel was loving every minute of it ;-) We actually had several people approach us and make over how cute Rachel was which I know she was eating up. I have to mention this one crazy lady though who certainly meant well but severely stuck her foot in her mouth when she said "I just love those kinds of children". I have heard so many ridiculous comments over the past 4 years that they hardly bother me, especially when they are not meant the way they come out. Of course they do bother me when Audrey is with me, but I will say that when I have Audrey and Lei too, nobody comes up to us which I appreciate. I guess when they know the child won't understand their comments is when they feel the need to openly share what they are thinking ...

I don't want to forget to mention that when the teacher was bringing Lei and Audrey to our Van today, I was standing outside the Van and when Lei saw me he just had the biggest smile and came running up to me so excited. Tonight he asked me to carry him up to his room to go to bed and he sat in my lap while we said prayers. It's a pretty unbelievable experience to bond so strongly with someone that you don't even speak their language.

Lastly, I know I always make it sounds like Lei is perfect which in my eyes he is, but he is also a typical 5 year old and going through a traumatic transition period. He doesn't cry very often at all but he sure does have a temper which I think is amplified by the fact he can't ever fully express to us what he is mad about. The closer we get to him emotionally the more he seems to be open about expressing how he "really feels". Tonight he was acting out because he was mad at one of his mei mei's and I finally had to get really firm with him which I rarely do. I guess this just means he is officially really one of ours now ;-)

The pictures I'm posting are from just before school and Rachel riding her tricycle after we came home this morning from taking Lei and Audrey to school, and Lei in the bathtub last night. Its weird the things that come to mind when you adopt a child older. As I was helping Lei get his bath, it occurred to me that I didn't have any pics of him in the bathtub and I have so many of the girls. It's so sad that we missed his baby/toddler years, but I'm so glad we have him now !